Iowans struggling with record food insecurity

3:23 PM,
Sep. 4, 2013

Samuel Jedo, an Edmunds Elementary first-grader in Des Moines, picks up food to take home after school. Iowa parents with low- wage jobs are increasingly having to turn to relatives, government and nonprofits to feed their children.

Written by

Christopher Doering

Iowans are having a harder time getting food than ever before as more people in the state went hungry during 2012, the federal government said Wednesday.

In its annual report, the U.S. Agriculture Department classified 12.6 percent of households throughout the state during the three year period between 2010 and 2012 as "food insecure" - meaning they had difficulty at some point providing enough food for all their family members. The level, the highest on record for the state, reflects a 1.1 percentage-point increase from 2007-2009 and a 3.5 percentage-point jump from a decade ago.